Research means hitting wrong notes

Teaching Children Songs

Circa 2006

- Lady Teleri the Well-Prepared
Girl Scout Gold Award

So you’re running a Children’s Bardic Circle and you want to teach the kids a song. But you don’t have handouts, or you don’t have enough handouts, or you’re just not sure where to start. The following techniques are some of the ways we addressed the same problem at scout camp, teaching songs of various length and complexity to a mixed group of campers aged 6 to 13, as well as their adult leaders.

Before You Teach

Make sure the children are seated so that they can all see you. You will be using your hands a lot to help them follow the melody. A semicircle is better than a full circle. If you have to use a full circle set-up, be sure to turn to address your entire audience.

Be prepared to be really, genuinely enthusiastic. Kids can sense phony a mile off, but you will need to generate a feeling of excitement and interest to attract and keep their attention.

Be prepared to look silly, waving your arms in the air like a lunatic.

Know the songs you intend to teach really well. In particular: be able to start from any line of the song, on key. If you have to, you can hum the previous line or refrain to get yourself on track.

Teaching the Song

Depending on the ages of the children and whether or not they’ve heard the song before, you will want to either teach them the words without the music first, or jump straight into the song. It is easier to start off slowly, without the music, and add it if the kids seem bored.

Introduce the song. This can be as short as telling them its title, or as long as a sentence or two about where and when it’s from and what it’s about.

Begin with the refrain, if the song has one. Slowly and clearly, tell them the first line and ask them to repeat it back to you. Do the second line, and ask them to repeat. Then ask them to say both lines together with you. Don’t worry if a few (or a lot) of the kids haven’t gotten it yet.

If you have a third and fourth line, do them as you did the first and second – each line alone, then together. Then ask the kids to recite the whole refrain so far with you. Repeat this pattern until you’ve finished the refrain.

Now you’re going to go back and do it again, with music and hand gestures. Go slowly. Sing the first line of the refrain to the children. While you’re singing, use your hand to indicate pitch. Place you hand in front of your chest, palm down and parallel to the ground. When you sing up a note, move your hand up. When you sing down, move your hand down. You don’t have to exactly match the distance you move to the change in pitch, but suggest scale. If you’re reaching for a really high (or low) note, raise (or lower) your hand a lot.

Get the kids to sing the first line of the refrain along with you. Then sing them the second line and have them echo it. Then – guess what? Both lines together. Continue as you did without music until they’ve sung the whole refrain through.

Congratulate them on having learned the refrain!

If they’re looking bored at this point, maybe two lines at a time is too slow for them. When you do the verses, go ahead and read/sing two lines at a time for them to echo. If they’re looking confused or lost, sing the refrain through with them a few more times.

Go ahead with the verses, following the same format as the refrain. Keep using your hands. Gauge your speed on their reactions. Stop after every verse and sing the song as learned to that point:

and so on. It’s tempting, especially with older children, to skip all these iterations. And if they look very bored, you probably should! However, the more they repeat the verses and chorus, the better they will know them.

If you do decide to teach all the verses in a block, then sing the song through:

be prepared to give a lead-in to the next verse at the end of the refrain. Usually, as they’re holding the last note of the refrain, you quickly speak the first few words of the next verse. (This trick also works with the repetition-heavy teaching method, if there are kids looking a little lost).

When all the verses have been taught, ask them if they’re ready to try the whole thing through. They’ll probably look uncertain, but unless they look totally lost, go on ahead. It won’t be word- or note-perfect, but that’s all right.

They sang the song! Congratulate them again. If you’re planning on doing a round or dance with the song, announce that now and go to it.

Songs

A mix of songs is key. Kids are open to trying a lot of new things – they will sing slow, lovely tunes. But they will probably also get bored if there is nothing but slow, lovely tunes, or songs with words they don’t understand. Our old rule of thumb was two upbeat songs for every slow song. We also used novelties – songs with hand gestures, repeat-after-me songs, songs with clapping or rude noises, get-up-and-move songs – to capture interest.

Unless you write new songs of these types in a period style, you are unlikely to find period songs that fit these bills. Depending on your region’s customs, that’s probably all right – most of the music sung at adult bardic circles isn’t anywhere near period, either. Pick “SCA appropriate” tunes that don’t contain blatant modern references. My personal opinion: Don’t try and pass these songs off as period. It is tempting to be cute and come up with clever spurious history like “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” being an inventory for some entry into the Domesday book. It’s not. Absolutely do talk about how most people were farmers in the Middle Ages, and even back then, they had some things on their farms the children might be familiar with. Use the song to introduce some historical material; do not try and create a funny history for the song.

Rounds

There are simple rounds that are period, and kids can handle them quite well. It does help greatly to have one adult per singing section, to help them keep their place. Also, be sure that all the helping adults know how many times through the group will sing together, which section starts first, and how many times they should sing through the song once they come in. (A rule of thumb I learned was “once for each group singing,” but that’s hardly universal. And it’s awkward when the middle section drops out a turn before everyone else.)

Troubleshooting

The kids are mumbling and look totally lost.Slow down and scale back. The songs you selected may not be right for this age group on this night. Drop some or all of the verses you were planning to teach, and concentrate on teaching less material more thoroughly.

They were doing great before, but now their attention is fading.Either it’s getting late, or this particular selection isn’t flying. Wrap up what you’re doing and move to one of your peppy, fun pieces and see if that re-captures interest. If not, it may be time to call it a night.

The older kids are bored and making commentary in the back.Can you involve them in some way? Perhaps you can start a round and get them to lead the sections, or bring them down to the front with you to demonstrate hand gestures for a silly song. Otherwise, gently ask them to quiet down or excuse themselves from the circle.

Wrapping Up

It’s not terribly courteous to get a bunch of kids wound up and then unleash them on their unsuspecting parents or their next teacher. Don’t end with one of your zaniest songs.

Also, don’t save your hardest or most challenging piece for last. They’ve been singing with you for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes at this point, and no matter how much fun they’ve had, they’re winding down.

Scouts typically end these activities with “Taps.” It’s a short, one-verse piece that is well-known through constant repetition at the end of every scout event. We always taught it anyway, since there would always be someone new in the crowd who did not know it. It’s also a fairly sedate tune – something to calm everyone down before bed without being overtly morose. (Unless you know “Taps” is played at military funerals, there is nothing in the lyrics of its first verse to suggest it.)

Pick something from your own repertoire to serve as your “Taps.” Use it whenever you’re teaching a group, and (perhaps) it too will become well-known in your local area. The first verse and/or chorus to a slower song might work well.

Teach your “Taps” and have the group sing it. Let the silence linger for a few seconds after they finish, then in a quiet but pleasant voice, thank them for coming and tell them how much you enjoyed singing with them. Pause to let them return the thanks if they wish, and then bid them good-bye or good-night.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

The comments to this entry are closed.

About

In the SCA, I'm known as Teleri the Well-Prepared. I sing, play the harp and lyre, and write the occasional poem. I really like doing research.